


Coincidence

by TimesBeingWhatTheyAre



Series: Where no man has gone before [7]
Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: The Original Series
Genre: Episode Tag, Episode: s03e15 Let That Be Your Last Battlefield, Friendship, Gen, M/M, Pre-Slash, light h/c
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-25
Updated: 2020-10-25
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:49:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,566
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27198760
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TimesBeingWhatTheyAre/pseuds/TimesBeingWhatTheyAre
Summary: 'Prejudice is from 20th century Earth. I learnt about it in history class'Or: Spock disagrees with the idea that prejudice is dead and gone
Relationships: Hinted, James T. Kirk & Spock, James T. Kirk/Spock
Series: Where no man has gone before [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2012116
Comments: 4
Kudos: 78





	Coincidence

**Author's Note:**

> I thought this episode was great, and that scene with Spock listening outside the door seemed designed to highlight that prejudice definitely exists on the Enterprise, even if the crewmen don't seem to recognise it.
> 
> They never elaborated on that in the episode, so I've taken the chance to!
> 
> Enjoy :)

“Penny for your thoughts, Mr Spock?” the captain asked cheerfully, walking up behind Spock.

Spock frowned. “Is it customary to receive payment for such matters?”

“Human expression,” Jim replied brightly, placing his tray down on the table and walking around the end, settling down opposite his First Officer. Spock raised an eyebrow.

“Indeed. Illogical as usual,” he commented, and Jim laughed, his brown eyes twinkling. He studied the Vulcan opposite him for a moment, and said

“If you don’t want a penny, how about I just lend you an ear? You look worried about something,” 

“I do not want your ear-”

“What’s going on, Spock?” the captain cut off his officer, playfully rolling his eyes at himself. He knew better than to continue on with idioms; Spock could critique them all day.

“It is nothing of import,” Spock replied measuredly, but he was still frowning down at his plate instead of eating.

“Spock, if it concerns you, it concerns me. What is it?” Jim asked, leaning forwards a little and looking Spock in the eyes.

The Vulcan frowned for a moment. “There was…a scene I overheard between Lokai and some of the crew. It- confuses me,”

“What confused you about it?” the captain asked, curiosity piqued as well.

“They spoke of... facts that I considered to be untrue,” Spock replied, his terms vague and non-committal, and Jim leaned back, tilting his head as he eyed Spock.

“Why didn’t you just correct them?” he asked.

“...the facts could possibly be a matter of opinion,” the Vulcan elaborated, and Jim raised his eyebrow in return, mirroring his first Officer.

“Well, let’s sort it out. Who were the crew members?” Jim questioned, twisting around in his seat to scan the mess hall, nodding in acknowledgement as he caught the eyes of a few who happened to be looking his way.

“The primary conversationalists were Mr Sulu and Mr Chekov, but it is not necessary-”

“Mr Sulu, Mr Chekov! Come here a moment, will you?” Jim called out across the room, motioning to the two officers, who sat chatting at another table. They looked up at the sound of their names, grabbing their plates and coming over to sit with their superior officers.

“What is it, sir?” Sulu asked, looking towards the captain, who grinned back. 

“Mr Spock has something to correct,” he said, the words mildly ominous, and Chekov sent Sulu a panicked glance as the two of them turned their attention to Spock, who was still contemplating his fingers.

“I do not believe this necessary, captain,” Spock said a little stiffly, the words as close to complaint as he would ever get in public.

Jim laughed and reached over the table to clasp Spock lightly on his shoulder, holding his hand there long enough for Sulu to send a meaningful look at Chekov, and then replied “Humour me, Mr Spock,”

Spock bent his head in acquiescence and turned to the two helmsmen, his posture tense enough for the captain to notice and frown.

“When you spoke with Lokai...you spoke of prejudice. I believe your exact words were ‘I learnt about it in history class’ and ‘There is no such thing today’. Am I correct, Mr Sulu, Mr Chekov?” Spock asked, one eyebrow raised as he turned his head from one to the other.

“Yes, that iz correct, Mr Spock,” Chekov replied in confusion, and Spock tilted his head again.

“That is not correct, Mr Chekov. Just because prejudice is not between two sets of humans does not mean that humans no longer have prejudice.”

“Vhat do you mean?” Chekov shook his head slightly, and Spock raised his.

“No matter,” he dismissed, rising to his feet. “Captain, I believe I shall see you later,”

Jim watched Spock, concern now lining his brow as he realised that Spock’s eyes were still unusually tumultuous, but he didn’t say anything in front of the others. Spock knew them well enough, but he would not want to share his private emotions with them.

Suddenly he wondered why he had thought it would be a good idea to bring them over. Clearly, the issue was bothering Spock more than he had thought.

“Captain?” Sulu asked, twisting back to face Jim from where he had been watching Spock leave, and Jim summoned up a smile for him.

“Sorry Sulu, I think I should catch up with him. Apologies for interrupting your meal,” he excused quickly, standing up without a second thought to his mostly uneaten food, and hurrying after his first officer.

He caught up with Spock about a corridor outside of the mess room, reaching out to put his hand on his shoulder. 

“Spock! I’m sorry, I didn’t realise the matter bothered you so deeply. I wouldn’t have brought Mr Sulu and Mr Chekov over if I had,” he apologised, and Spock stood unnaturally still beneath his touch.

“Do not concern yourself, captain. I am not bothered by anything. That would be-”

“Illogical, yes, and yet I’m not wrong, am I? What upsets you? They were just stating- oh,” the captain trailed off, rethinking the line of conversation and coming to a new conclusion.

Spock stiffened further, back still turned to him, and Jim glanced around the rather busy corridor and made an executive decision. 

“In here,” he said, grabbing his friend’s arm and pulling him closer, opening the nearest door and pulling them both in.

“...Captain, why are we standing in a supply closet,”

“...I thought it was an empty living quarters,” Jim said sheepishly, wondering how he’d managed to confuse his mental map of the ship that much. “Anyway, don’t think you can get out of my question. It bothers you.”

In the dark, Jim could no longer see the Vulcan, but he felt the air shift as Spock tried to move away and could not in the tiny space. 

“I am not ‘bothered’, as you put it, by anything,” Spock insisted, and Jim rolled his eyes.

“Spock, I know you. You don’t need to pull that ‘emotionless Vulcan’ card with me, I can tell you’re upset. Is it because- well, because people have been prejudiced to you?” he asked boldly, bringing his other hand up to settle on Spock’s other arm, feeling the tension in his frame.

“Captain, I do not-”

“Spock.”

There was a sigh.

“Jim. I am not upset by their mistaken idea that there are no longer human prejudices. It is more so that they longer recognise prejudice when it exists,”

“Have they said something to you, Spock?” Jim asked, suddenly feeling angry towards his crew at the thought that somebody had been intolerant towards his best friend.

“Not they captain-” Spock stopped, and the captain stood in silence for a moment, imagining the way that unwanted emotions traced the lines of the other’s face.

“I wasn’t expected to live,” Spock said bluntly, his voice almost a whisper in the dark of the cupboard, and Jim blinked in surprise at the non-sequitur. 

“I was considered an anomaly, an aberration from birth. My peers considered me too human, and humans considered me too Vulcan...as they like to frequently remind me,” Spock intoned quietly, and Jim felt his eyes soften in sympathy, even as he thought with guilt to some of the off-hand things he had said in the past.

“I’m sorry, Spock,”

“It is not your fault, captain,”

“Still, I-” 

“I simply find it...distasteful to believe that there are no prejudices anymore,” Spock cut him off, and Jim felt his lips twitch at the Vulcan’s attempt to steer the conversation back to logic and away from the personal information he’d just shared.

“Spock, if you ever experience prejudice on this ship, I want you to tell me,” he said decisively, and felt more than saw Spock’s answering confusion.

“Why would I do that?” Spock queried, and Jim smiled.

“Because it’s against Starfleet regulations to discriminate. Because you deserve better,” Jim whispered, leaning in closer and pulling his first officer into an awkward hug, made so by the fact that one of the participating parties was simply standing there as still as a rock.

He wasn’t pushed away though, so he was counting it as a success.

Of course, that was when the door decided to open and bring light flooding in, along with the sight of a confused and increasingly horrified Ensign, who had clearly just been looking for a mop and not two superior officers hugging. 

“Sir, I-” he stuttered out, and Jim let go of Spock, a little reluctantly, and stepped back, grabbing hold of the man’s arm and pulling him forwards with him.

“Quite alright, Ensign Wilson. We were just going,” he said breezily, confidently striding out of the cupboard and away from the direction of the mess hall. There was a little bit of a stunned silence going on behind them, but Jim decided that if he ignored them, they didn’t exist, and instead glanced at Spock, walking alongside him with a slight expression of long-suffering.

Jim thought that he looked happier than before though, and that made him happy in turn.

And if a mandatory diversity class was regulated across the ship for the week after? A coincidence.

Just like Sulu and Chekov’s additional duties on clean-up for a few weeks.

(Pulling Spock back into that supply closet a couple weeks later though; no, that was very much on purpose)


End file.
